Archive for July, 2010

14 July 2010
So, it turns out that the yellow cord running the length of my street is attached to these little gizmos which are, according to a dear friend, a “seismo-measurer thingy”.
A little more research indicates that the Chesapeake Power Company places these in areas surrounding a new frak site. I haven’t located the frak site yet, but it’s gotta be close. Damn natural gas.
Cheers.

It was a full, and pretty wonderful day here in Wisconsin. It started with Kyrana’s pancake breakfast at the glass studio. A cup of coffee, some fresh-squeezed orange juice and of course, pancakes made with love. Then, I took my first turn of the season as the apprentice on the glass studio floor with the gaffer. We made little bodice coolers today, working despite the awful heat and humidity, but finally gave up around one o’clock. About an hour later, Kelly and I left the site to do a post office errand, and then go pick up Hazel, the cat. The vet tech presented Kelly with little vials of meds for the cat, and one containing the needle and eight inches of thread they pulled from Hazel’s stomach! Hazel seems a little slower than normal, but otherwise, just fine. And, it seems our chosen family rallied to Kelly’s aid and anonymously donated just about half of the $1300 vet bill—an amazing and much-appreciated gift.

Kelly and I spent the evening working—I put in another three hours beading on the forepart for the wedding order, and then decided to come on home, get my shower, and wind down before the big storm hits. Our weather radar shows a massive storm system just to our northwest —headed straight for us, as far as we can tell. High winds, hail, and a tornado watch are all a part of the forecast! The sound of rolling thunder has grown closer for the last couple of hours, and the rain has just started. If it doesn’t storm too violently, it’ll be perfect sleeping weather!

My photo is of the cascading flower pots in the MBistro. Kyle bought me the cool plant stand that makes this precarious-looking display possible, about three years ago at a home and garden show, and I’ve never used it. This year, as I was packing the trailer, it caught my eye, and I decided it would serve me better up here, where I do container gardening, anyway, and where the sun isn’t so harsh that it fries the plants!

I’m to bed, now. There’s talk of breakfast at Franks Diner bright and early in the morning!

Good news came early in the day from the vet where Kelly’s cat was reported to be feisty and somewhat cranky with the techs. Kelly should be able to pick her up and bring her home by tomorrow. Yay!

I worked most of the day with Kelly, beading the forepart (my photo of the day is a close-up of one of the motifs) for a wedding couple that she is sewing for this summer. I enjoy the beading, and I am delighted to help Kelly get this order done so she can work on her own wedding.

Tonight, she and I and Kat met at the house of our dear Chad Fabulous, where we all received some hair maintenance—cuts, trims, washes, and of course … my peacock colours! It makes me happy!

13 July 2010
I’m in a situation at work where I have a very hard deadline looming, but events (and other companies) are conspiring to make that deadline damn near impossible to make. So, consequently, my stress level is going up and my social life is declining. On top of that, I have a 4 day seminar next week during which time, my chances of writing any reasonable code drop to subzero. I fear, for the first time, I will not make a deadline. That makes me angry, but the circumstances are completely out of my control. I was supposed to have data on 28 June, then 2 July, then 9 July, now it looks like 16 July. With a deadline of 1 August, I’m getting a bit fearful.

Tonight when I got home, there were strange contraptions in many of my neighbors yards and this bright yellow cable that strung those contraptions together. This cable goes from eight houses on one side to 3 houses on the other.
I have no idea what’s up. I hope it’s Fios so I can dump uVerse. You know, one of the selling points of uVerse is: “No more outages during inclement weather.” Right. That’s true enough. Instead, we get outages for no reason at all at all times of the day in all types of weather. Bugger all.
Cheers.

Mondays aren’t supposed to be terribly exciting. In our world, Mondays are what Saturdays are for most of the work-a-day world … a day of rest from the work week. Typically, Mondays include some sort of paperwork/accounting/banking and a whole lot of nothing else.

Kelly and I were having the perfect Monday, including a delightful lunch at a Mexican place that was totally new to us. We ran our necessary errands, and came back to the site to take a bit of a siesta before really sinking our teeth into the sewing we had planned.

I was visiting with Kyrana, when my phone rang and through it, Kelly said, “Put your shoes on. Come over here as fast as you can; I need your help.”

A short while later, one of her cats was safely resting at the animal hospital, about to have surgery to remove the straight pin she had swallowed. The call eventually came from the doctor, reporting that the cat had come through the surgery just fine. A close call, but disaster averted.

So, when I went to take my photo, I decided the pins were colorful and fun, and the caption was intriguing. Another crazy day …

11 July 2010
Today was the final of the World Cup, so I and several friends met several hundred strangers at the Fox & Hound in downtown Ft. Worth to celebrate the final game of the most massive multi-national event in the world. The day did not end well for me; you see, despite the much-ballyhooed prognostic abilities of the cephalapod, Paul the Octopus, I chose with my heart and with history on my side to root for the Dutch. “Go Oranje!” was the rallying cry of the day. 120 minutes later, that cry turned to “Damn you, Oranje!” as the Netherlands succumbed to the vastly superior tactical & technical skill of the Spanish. El Furia Roja was the better team on the day and once again, I got it wrong.
I did, however, go bar-hopping after that and managed to wash away a few of my sorrows in the various excellent pubs in downtown Ft. Worth.
This is the entrance to the always exellent Rick O’Shea’s Pub on Houston Street.
Cheers.

First weekend of faire is over … my paperwork is mostly done, and I am off to bed. But, in order to not disappoint myself, here I am, posting to the KRuMB, first.

My photo is of Chad Fabulous’ beautiful doublet he bought from us a couple of years ago. We don’t still see this brocade … and he wants me to find fabric to match or coordinate with it. I took a couple of photos of it—my only photos of the day. Sigh.

The day dawned bright and beautiful, the crowd was encouraging, if a bit slow to spend, and the business hours were filled with laughter and hugs and good times. I must confess to being exhausted and therefore I submit to you, dear reader of the The Daily KRuMB, a fun little shot of the hanging basket of flowers just outside my door … and not much else!

I am, however, fulfilling my renewed commitment to photograph, write and post every day, once again. As the routine continues, I’m sure I’ll revert back to my long-winded self! 😉

I didn’t realize I needed a break from our beloved Daily KRuMB … but perhaps I did. That having been said, it will be my hope to be able to go back and do at least some fill in/catch up posts … I’m not sure there will be sixty of them … but I’ll try. And, at least now, as I settle into my summertime routines at my home away from home, I can re-establish daily writing as the priority it should be.

We open here at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in just over nine hours. I am about to go to sleep, and likely dream of tasks yet undone. But, the good news is that my conscious brain cannot actually think of any, with the exception of the necessary switching of two plant hooks! I really think I am ready to open. So, I am going to bed, and tomorrow will tell. As my Facebook status currently reads: “ready … set … go!”

My photo today is of my precious companion, the lofty Miss Artemis, pink and white bitch cat extraordinaire. She seems rather pleased with things around here, maybe even moreso than usual, and I always wonder if she’s glad to be away from the dogs, or if perhaps she misses them just a bit?